BizChina

services companies, the new great frontier is China. Obviously the question at the forefront of everyone’s mind is how to expand into this region without having your proprietary technology pirated by this region’s upstart competitors. The reality is there is no safe way. I’m sure that’s not what the reader wants to hear but the reality is whenever you are bringing a technology concept to a newly industrialized territory you’ll run into corruption, the way to enter this market is to set up safeguards and strategies to protect the integrity of the technology and any other proprietary concepts.

For those looking to have their products manufactured in China this can save a fortune if it’s done properly. You should look at the construction of your product in this area as if you were dealing with a DOD project. Have different aspects of your devise manufactured at different locations without issuing information about the identity of the end product. This seems to work extremely well.

Singapore's state investment fund Temasek plans to invest up to $300 million in the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) ahead of its roughly $20 billion initial public offering (IPO), a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Temasek's commitment to China's third largest bank is a positive step for the offering, although it is less than the $1 billion that ABC's underwriters are hoping to get from Middle East and Asian sovereign wealth fund cornerstone investors.

So-called cornerstone investors are a key layer of financial backing for an IPO. ABC's Shanghai-Hong Kong listing will be the world's largest ever IPO if it exceeds $21.9 billion.

Temasek declined to comment. ABC could not immediately be reached. The source was not authorized to speak on the record about the deal.

Reuters earlier reported that Temasek, and sovereign funds from Kuwait and Qatar were expected to sign on to ABC's offering.

China and Kazakhstan have signed a deal to build and finance a natural gas pipeline and deepen their cooperation on nuclear energy, extending the two countries' ties on resources.

Under the agreement signed on Saturday during a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao, the two countries will build a 1,400-km gas pipeline. It will link with an existing gas pipeline running between China and Central Asia.

The project will help meet gas demand in southern Kazakhstan. Feasibility studies will also be undertaken, looking at increasing gas exports to China from the Caspian Sea area and other Central Asian countries through the pipeline, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said on Sunday.

Analysts said the deal underlines the importance of energy cooperation between China and central Asian countries, which are rich in natural resources. "These countries will play an increasingly important role in China's overseas energy strategy," said Xia Yishan, an expert at the China Institute of International Studies.

In China, juice beverages contain fruit & vegetable juice. The fruit & vegetable juice is made directly from fresh or chilled fruits and vegetables. Fruit & vegetable beverages are made into ready-for-drink beverages by adding water, sugar liquor and sour agent, etc into the juice. In China, the juice content for fruit & vegetable beverages should be no less than 10%, otherwise they belong to other categories of beverages.

China is abundant in fruit resources. In 2009, the Chinese fruit yield reached about 120 million tons (excluding melons), ranking at the top of the world rankings. Despite the gigantic population, Chinese consumption of juice beverages is quite low. The annual juice beverage consumption per capita was below 10 litres in 2009. According to a market investigation, in 2009, Chinese juice beverage production amounted to 13.47 million tons, a 14.20% increase over 2008; the market scale reached approximately CNY 57.50 billion, rising by 15% YOY.

The market investigation showed that, in the Chinese juice beverage market, the market share for 100% concentration juice is only 5%-6%, while the most shares are held by low-concentration juice beverages (with a juice content of no more than 25%). This is mainly due to the purchase capacity and consumption behaviour of consumers.

By the end of 2009, there were already over 1,000 juice processing enterprises in China, but few of them are large-scale ones. Apart from the products of several enterprises such as Huiyuan, Coca-Cola and Pepsi that sell well all over China, most other enterprises can only sell their products in regional markets. Restricted by the financial capacity and marketing channels etc., those regional enterprises are unable to operate in the national market. In the long run, these regional enterprises are likely to become acquisition objects of the giants in the juice beverage market, who can improve their regional market shares and set up localized production bases through the acquisition.

The outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008H2 resulted in a big blow to Chinese juice beverage exports. In 2008, Chinas total export volume of juice beverage decreased to 794,000 tons and the export value reached USD 1.26 billion, dropping by 30.4% YOY and 7% YOY separately. The international financial crisis impacted the Chinese juice beverage export market greatly. In 2009, Chinas export volume of juice beverages rose to 897,000 tons. However, due to the declining export price, the export value dropped by 39.40% YOY to USD 762.40 million. In the first quarter of 2010, Chinese juice beverage exports continued to decrease.

A large part of the Chinese juice beverage market is occupied by cheap low-concentration juice beverages, with only a small percentage of high-priced, high-concentration juice beverages. Generally, consumers did not cut down their expenditure on juice beverages. Therefore, the domestic juice beverage market did not suffer great losses in the global financial crisis.

According to an investigation into the development of the world beverage markets, when the GDP per capita reaches USD 3,000, residents will pay more attention to vitamin supplement beverages. In 2009, Chinese GDP per capita exceeded USD 3,000. It is forecast that the Chinese juice beverage market will sustain rapid growth in 2010-2014 and the juice beverage consumption per capita will also rise fast in China. In the following years, the Chinese juice beverage market is expected to become the competition focus of domestic and foreign enterprises.

This report will provide readers with information on:

Analysis on the development environment of the Chinese juice beverage industry Analysis on the status quo of the Chinese juice beverage industry Upstream industry chain of the Chinese juice beverage industry Market competition in the Chinese juice beverage industry Import & export of the Chinese juice beverage industry Analysis on M&A cases in the Chinese juice beverage industry Analysis on the influence of the global financial crisis on the Chinese juice beverage industry Major enterprises in the Chinese juice beverage enterprises and their operation Analysis on the development opportunities in the Chinese juice beverage industry Recommendations on M&A in the Chinese juice beverage industry Contacts of major juice beverage producers in China

This report is recommended for the following people:

Beverage producers Fruit planting enterprises Beverage package enterprises Juice beverage import & export enterprises Investors interested in the juice beverage industry Research institutes interested in the juice beverage industry Others interested in the juice beverage industry

Key Topics Covered:

1 Overview of Chinese Juice Beverage Market 2 Development of Chinese Juice Beverage Market in Major Regions 3 Analysis on Upstream Sectors of Juice Beverage in China, 2008-2009 4 Analysis on Major Enterprises in Chinese Juice Beverage Industry 5 Analysis on M&A in Chinese Juice Beverage Industry 6 Analysis on Development and Investment in Chinese Juice Beverage Industry Selected Charts

Companies Mentioned:

Beijing Huiyuan Beverage and Food Group Co., Ltd Uni-President Group Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd Ting Hsin International Group Coca-Cola PepsiCo Inc. Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd Great Lakes (Tianjin) Fresh Food and Juice Co., Ltd SDIC Zhonglu Fruit Juice Co., Ltd